Foley Artist “Triple Threat (Part 1)” EP – An exciting prospect

Prepare your eardrums for a pounding everyone: math rock band Foley Artist have released some promising new material, and it is going to melt a few faces along the way for sure.

During my days of being in a band, Foley Artist were one of the groups I had the pleasure of performing alongside in a sweaty pub in Staines. Me and the guitarist/lead singer Matt have been in infrequent contact ever since (he’s an odd one that guy…), and so I was pleasantly surprised when the group released a trio of tracks yesterday.

Disjointed guitars, frenzied tapping and killer riffs a-plenty, the influences of Foley Artist are clear: Arcane Roots and, well, Arcane Roots. This does make a lot of sense: both bands grew up in the same area (Surrey), whilst they probably played the same gigs at many of the same venues over the years. It really does feel like you have the big brother who are hitting all of the music magazines and European venues in a big way at the moment, with the little brother Foley Artist only a few years behind, nipping at his heels, and getting well on their way to matching their older sibling. There really are some great moments in their 2 full length songs: the chorus of “Name Your Demons” holding together the wild breakdowns and multi layered tapping sections, whilst the Reuben-esque chorus of FA4 is a real headbanger that feels tight and powerful. This is really an intense and impressive math rock EP. Dare I even mention how this would go down live? London gig: here I come.

More than anything, this record is a sign of what the band are capable of in years to come. In its current state it probably couldn’t hold its weight against major, signed bands of the same genre – the recording quality isn’t the best, there are issues with the cohesiveness of certain elements of the songs, and his voice could do with a bit of work – but this is to be expected when bands like this have to work full time jobs with limited resources ON TOP of their budding music career. In a strange way, it is both saddening and encouraging to see a band produce an EP like this. Encouraging in that it has some absolutely mind melting riffs that are as good as any other, and you drool at the thought of how good this would sound with some serious resources put into it. But it is also saddening in that you can only imagine what it would be like with super polished production. Unequal distribution of wealth and all that…

In my opinion, all it would take for this band to take off is some intense promotion and gigging of their product, a bit of work on their composition, and then a super polished, squeaky clean album for them to build a loyal fan base on. But that’s all easier said than done right…